Here's what went wrong down the stretch for URI men's basketball at Boston College
NEWTON, Mass. — There should come a point in time when the University of Rhode Island will win this sort of game.
That’s certainly the plan under first-year coach Archie Miller. Sunday was simply a bit too early for the Rams to reliably produce in the clutch against Boston College.
Missed free throws and one key defensive mistake proved costly. A final offensive possession in a two-point game resulted in a missed layup. The Eagles held on, 53-49, in a rock fight at Conte Forum.
URI went just 2-for-6 at the stripe over the final 1:56 and allowed Devin McGlockton to slip his way to the rim on a pick-and-roll with Makai Ashton-Langford. McGlockton’s bucket with 1:07 to play snapped a 48-48 tie, and Boston College refused to surrender its thin lead despite a couple of tense sequences.
“All in all, I’m proud of our guys,” Miller said. “I’m disappointed that we lost the game. I think there were some things I could have done better to try to help them.”
The Rams missed a final chance to tie or take the lead with 19.2 seconds left. Brayon Freeman wriggled free down the left side and rimmed out a contested layup that could have squared a 51-49 game. The Eagles cleared the rebound and McGlockton knocked home a critical pair of free throws with 8.6 seconds to play.
“Those guys did a good job out of the timeout connecting and executing, and Brayon got a layup,” Miller said. “He’ll make that more times than not.”
URI enters a few needed days off before hosting Providence in a rivalry showdown on Saturday. Where might the Rams turn their attention watching film of this one? Let’s have a look.
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Rams falter at foul line
Boston College was plus-8 at the foul line Sunday. URI finished just 10-for-17, including some painful tries down the stretch. Josaphat Bilau rimmed out a pair with 1:56 left and Ishmael Leggett made just one of two in each of his trips over the final 1:26. The Eagles (5-2) went 18-for-23, including a 5-for-6 effort from McGlockton and 7-for-8 shooting from leading scorer Jaeden Zackery.
“Some missed free-throw opportunities probably hurt us more than anything in there,” Miller said. “We had one broken play defensively — we were trying to take the ball out of Makai Ashton-Langford's hands and not let him shoot. He did a great job of finding the roller late, which gave them a comfortable 2-point basket.
“Other than that, I’ve got no complaints with our guys. We’re learning. We’re getting better.”
The two teams shot a combined 4-for-30 from 3-point range; neither cracked 31% overall from the field. Freeman collected half of the 18 field goals notched by the Rams (2-5) and Zackery was the lone Boston College player to shoot 50% while compiling his 16 points.
“I think both teams made things really hard on each other,” Miller said. “Clearly, defensively, both teams had some success out there.”
Freeman nets 21, seems back on track
Freeman led all scorers with 21 points, his second straight game reaching that number. He’s officially back on track after sitting out through a coach’s decision in a win against Stony Brook. Freeman’s scoring ticked up in each of URI’s three games at the Cayman Islands Classic, including 21 points in a 57-44 victory over Illinois State. He looks more like the player who was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team with George Washington in 2021-22.
“The coaching staff really worked with me to get me back in the right head space,” Freeman said. “I had a lot of things going on. My head was kind of foggy mentally.”
Freeman was given the night off in a 74-64 victory over Stony Brook on Nov. 15. He’s quickly assumed the expected role of backcourt catalyst and played a team-high 38 minutes in this one. It was his first start since opening night against Quinnipiac.
“I told him the other day I’m proud of him,” Miller said. “He’s got a lot of fight in him. There are a lot of guys who want to go away and hide when things aren’t off to a good start. He didn’t do that.”
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Archie Miller, Ed Cooley to hold webinar
Miller will star alongside Friars coach Ed Cooley on a one-hour webinar on Monday night.
"An Hour With the Coaches" will begin at 7 p.m. and will be cohosted by each team’s radio voice — Steve McDonald of URI and John Rooke of Providence. Registration costs $50 and is available through each school’s athletic department website — gorhody.com or friars.com. Proceeds will benefit name, image and likeness pools at each school.
Miller and Cooley are friends through their past work with Team USA basketball. Their respective fan bases fall somewhere short of that description. Saturday’s 5 p.m. tip at the Ryan Center will be a spicy one.
The Rams are likely to be shorthanded in the game. Jalen Carey (hip, groin) missed his third straight against the Eagles and his fourth of the season. He's been ailing since late in the preseason and attempting to manage his way through practice sessions and games.
“Out for the foreseeable future right now,” Miller said.
Leggett and Malik Martin each played 33 minutes against Boston College in support of Freeman. Both have logged at least 74.6% of available minutes to date this season.
“Hopefully, this week we can kind of reset, get guys a little bit more rest — we haven’t had an opportunity to do that,” Miller said. “We can work on some things and get ready for a big one next Saturday as we host Providence.”
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
RHODE ISLAND (49): Bilau 1-5 3-6 5, Freeman 9-20 1-3 21, Leggett 3-15 4-6 10, Martin 2-8 2-2 6, Hutchinson 0-0 0-0 0, Weston 0-4 0-0 0, Thomas 2-4 0-0 5, Tchikou 1-2 0-0 2, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Samb 0-0 0-0 0; totals 18-59 10-17 49.
BOSTON COLLEGE (5-2): Bickerstaff 1-7 1-1 3, Penha 3-8 0-0 6, Ashton-Langford 3-11 3-3 9, Madsen 0-6 1-2 1, Zackery 4-8 7-8 16, Langford 2-6 1-3 5, McGlockton 3-7 5-6 11, Kelley 1-3 0-0 2, Mighty 0-0 0-0 0; totals 17-56 18-23 53.
Halftime — 28-28. 3-Point Goals — Rhode Island 3-16 (Freeman 2-6, Thomas 1-2, Weston 0-1, Martin 0-2, Leggett 0-5), Boston College 1-14 (Zackery 1-3, Kelley 0-1, Ashton-Langford 0-2, Penha 0-3, Madsen 0-5). Rebounds — Rhode Island 38 (Martin 8), Boston College 37 (Bickerstaff 10). Assists — Rhode Island 8 (Leggett 3), Boston College 8 (Ashton-Langford 4). Total Fouls — Rhode Island 20, Boston College 16. Records — Rhode Island 2-5, Boston College 5-2. A — 4,432 (8,606).
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Here's what went wrong down the stretch for URI basketball at Boston College
